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Ex-OHL coach Dave Cameron kept sportswriter from being at Boston Marathon finish line

While much of North America is reeling from the fatal Boston Marathon explosions, one solace is that within tragedy, there will be stories that will affirm humanity's essential generosity. One that is already making the rounds involves how former Ontario Hockey League coach Dave Cameron, who was in Boston on Monday with the Ottawa Senators for a game vs. the Bruins that has been cancelled, diverted a fellow Prince Edward Islander from being at the marathon finish line.

Jason Simmonds, sports editor of the Summerside Journal Pioneer, along with his spouse Sheila and stepson AJ, were planning to stake out a spot to watch the world's oldest continuously staged marathon. But Cameron invited the family to watch the Senators' Monday practice.

“It’s surreal,” said Jason, when contacted by phone late Monday, only a couple of hours after the deadly explosion. “That’s where we would have been today.”

The plan had been to return to the finish line Monday to watch the runners.

But Kinkora native and Ottawa Senators assistant coach Dave Cameron offered Jason, Sheila, a die-hard Sens fan, and AJ the chance to sit in on Monday morning’s practice. The Sens were scheduled to take on the Boston Bruins Monday night, a game that would later be cancelled because of the situation in the city.

“Dave Cameron saved my life,” said Simmonds. (Summerside Journal Pioneer)

An irony is Cameron, during his days in the OHL and as head coach of Canada's national junior team, often put up a gruff front to the media that probably belied his true personality. (One well-remembered post-game exchange at the 2011 world junior championship came when Cameron was asked to comment on Canada's goaltending and replied simply, "Good." Pressed to expand on that, he said, "Real good." It was not 100 per cent an act, but it was carried off brilliantly; he was expansive when asked a well-thought-out question.)

Anyway, that vignette illustrates how many people in the world of sport still make time to stay true to their roots. Cameron was not about to big-time his fellow Islanders.

The events in Boston have reached other corners of the hockey world. Recent Lethbridge Hurricanes grad Ty Rimmer, who's an amateur tryout with the AHL's Manchester Monarchs after playing out his overage season, was in Boston.

It is not my place to speculate on the causes of it or what it all means, politically or in terms of what this means for the Boston Marathon's future. Anyone barely acquainted with distance running knows 'Boston' is the mecca for marathoners. It's one of the great days in sports. New Englanders pack Fenway Park for the 11:05 a.m. Red Sox game, then stream outside to cheer for the running aficionados and weekend warriors, putting them on a pedestal with the millionaire ballplayers, just for one day.

The comic Patton Oswalt had some words of wisdom that might provide comfort.

I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.

But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out ... This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness.

But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will."

The first responders and many selfless volunteers reminded us of that today. In a smaller yet still significant way, Dave Cameron did too.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.